Burn Down the American Plantation: Announcing RAM

We are announcing the formation of the Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement and putting out a call to all those seeking freedom, who are committed to abolishing slavery, and who desire liberation for all.

The United States was built on slavery, and despite the American Civil War, this oppression never ended. The abolitionist movement fought against this tyranny, but modern slavery and mass brutality persist unchecked.

Around the world, fascism is on the rise. The state has openly declared war on our communities, threatening to ethnically cleanse Latinos, criminalize Muslims, destroy indigenous land, and oppress the LGBTQ community, while continuing to murder and incarcerate black people.

The Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement unequivocally states that the plantation system must be destroyed.

Today, the anarchist struggle, and anti-state feminism is on the rise, and authoritarian modes of resistance are now discredited.

The Revolution in Rojava in Northern Syria has set an exceptional standard. With a foundation in feminism, ecology, anti-state organizing, and armed struggle, it has actualized a revolution beyond 20th century nationalism. With the founding of groups like the International Revolutionary People’s Guerrilla Forces, it is clear that this is the time for anarchist revolutionaries to act without hesitation.

We declare our solidarity with the international anti-fascist and anarchist struggle, and propose concrete steps in the struggle for abolitionism.

Revolutionary Abolitionists must fight hand in hand with those facing oppression. We intend to establish a new Underground Railroad to free people from bondage. By building revolutionary self-defense networks, connecting them to one another, and developing militant strategies in our neighborhoods, our network will create the capacity to destroy state power and defend our communities.

A new global paradigm for revolution has been established, to be taken up by dedicated revolutionaries, autonomous territories, guerrillas in armed struggle, and all those engaged in the global drive towards liberation and away from statehood, capitalism, patriarchy, and domination.

We call on anti-state groups to join the Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement and send this message to our comrades to help build the capacity to burn down the American plantation once and for all.

Revolutionary Goals

SHORT TERM GOAL: THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD

We will create networks for those facing detention, incarceration, deportation, or white supremacist violence to escape and live with dignity. We invite revolutionaries to help build a contemporary underground railroad, outside the reach of the state. Revolutionaries, social centers, and antifa groups that are already active can help build greater infrastructure of resistance to support those fleeing the state. From this foundation, we set the political framework for the next stages.

LONG TERM GOAL: BUILDING THE ABOLITIONIST PROJECT

For the Abolitionist project to be successful we must eventually transition from resistance to a revolutionary situation. Relationships and groups built through the underground railroad have the potential to become the foundation for organized defense groups, local councils, and regional/national councils.

We invite comrades to coordinate our activities regionally, and nationally as part of an Abolitionist Council.

POLITICAL FOUNDATION:

  • Self-Defense
    Defense of oppressed people and of our political projects is paramount. We propose developing and tying defense teams to localities and collectives that are based on abolitionist practices.
  • The Neighborhood Council
    As the Underground Railroad network grows outside the jurisdiction of the state and reactionary forces, it is built through non-hierarchical relationships of trust. Collectives and councils developed according to needs, issues, and political motivation involve people in neighborhood self-governance.
  • Conflict Resolution and Revolutionary Justice
    Forms of conflict resolution are essential for developing revolutionary relationships. Social cohesion, rather than punishment, must be the foundation. Abolitionist political growth seeks to destroy the prison, yet those oppressing others must be combated.
  • Abolition of Gender
    The same forces that put people in bondage also utilize gender roles as a source of domination. Overcoming imprisonment and liberating humanity from captivity must happen simultaneously with the abolition of gender constraints.
  • Expropriation and the Cooperative Economy
    To carve out an autonomous territory, or to begin the revolutionary process, goods, land, and tools must be expropriated, or taken away from those who withhold them. We are striving towards a situation where necessities cannot be taken away from those who need them, but instead are shared with those who lack them.

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May 20th, 2017